They've received free housing for a year. With that housing comes free maid service, free heat and electricity, free television, free water and sewer, probably a free continental breakfast. I think a year is long enough when they could easily have almost no expenses besides food and travel.

ArkAngel:They've received free housing for a year. With that housing comes free maid service, free heat and electricity, free television, free water and sewer, probably a free continental breakfast. I think a year is long enough when they could easily have almost no expenses besides food and travel.

ArkAngel:They've received free housing for a year. With that housing comes free maid service, free heat and electricity, free television, free water and sewer, probably a free continental breakfast. I think a year is long enough when they could easily have almost no expenses besides food and travel.

The Stealth Hippopotamus:ArkAngel: They've received free housing for a year. With that housing comes free maid service, free heat and electricity, free television, free water and sewer, probably a free continental breakfast. I think a year is long enough when they could easily have almost no expenses besides food and travel.

I agree. 52 weeks of government support is enough.

Given how difficult it was to find a job when I was on unemployment even with the extensions, I can't really back that up (unemployment is more like 14% when you add in all the discouraged 'job seekers' who have given up), but I think I found at least one root of the problem:

"She has lived in a Brooklyn Holiday Inn since the storm. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't want to think about it."

I get that it sucks and it's depressing, but either seek treatment for real mental issues or stop living in denial... planning ahead [aka 'how do I get out of this hotel and back into a HOME') is a life skill everyone should develop.

EbolaNYC:Find a place to live. It's been a year. I understand that it sucks, but that doesn't change the fact that at some point you have to move on. Jeez..

You know, I'm one of the libbiest libs that ever libbed, but if you're perfectly capable of working, and you refuse to, it's very hard for me to feel sorry for you if you've had a year of cost-free living on FEMA's dime to get back on your feet.

That Government assistance, IIRC, actually has a way to pay for skills and job retraining so you can find a job.

Wait wait wait wait... people renting APARTMENTS are getting shacked up by fema? WTF, I thought it was for people who lost their home.. not their rented dwelling which they can just go and rent another. Her ass should never have been there to begin with.

The Nicole Neal quoted in the story as not knowing what she's going to do is the perfect represenation of a small segment of the population who will never, ever do anything on their own behalf unless someone else does it for them. And then they wonder why they live in a perpetual fog and can't ever break through.

Uh, it's not the federal pamper your ass and make it like the storm never happened department. It's for emergency aid. Last I checked, the emergency was over a long time ago. Now that your ass isn't in imminent danger, it's time to contact your insurance provider and get on with your life.

MrHelpful:The Nicole Neal quoted in the story as not knowing what she's going to do is the perfect represenation of a small segment of the population who will never, ever do anything on their own behalf unless someone else does it for them. And then they wonder why they live in a perpetual fog and can't ever break through.

Good grief, they've been getting free housing for a year now, if they haven't been able to get back on their feet by now it's likely their own fault, it's not like they're being tossed out on the street.

EbolaNYC:Find a place to live. It's been a year. I understand that it sucks, but that doesn't change the fact that at some point you have to move on. Jeez..

but when there is no place like the place you were flooded out of, when everyone went back to the work they were doing but your company is gone and in fact there's nothing like it anymore, it's just not so easy to just move on. You're 57 years old, your company is gone and you'll just move on, just like that.

FYI, it doesn't work like that at 57 or even 50. Companies want kids they can screw for wages and benefits. They'll put up with reduced efficiency just so they don't have to pay. Even the damn state jobs aren't hiring anyone over 45 somehow. You just never seem to have the right qualifications, somehow.

It's just not always possible to just move on.I'm not railing on you but you should know this. Your age is showing and that's fine. It's obvious that you've never been at that place. That's great and I hope you never are, but, if you get there by some quirk of fate, I hope you don't remember the sentiment you just expressed.

ArkAngel:They've received free housing for a year. With that housing comes free maid service, free heat and electricity, free television, free water and sewer, probably a free continental breakfast. I think a year is long enough when they could easily have almost no expenses besides food and travel.

That. Even in the bad economy, that's more than enough time to find new digs, especially since the likelihood of their job being destroyed as well as their home is pretty low.

Hermione_Granger:Ya'll are some heartless bastards who've never started over with nothing I see.

You all have no idea what her situation is or how they're living day to day.

You have no bloody idea.

Hmmmm....ok. Fair enough. How long should the government provide what amounts to a cost free existence? It's been a year. Should it be two years? Five years? Forever? And for the record, all the government is doing is taking her out of a hotel and putting her into a shelter. She'll still have a roof over her head.

Hermione_Granger:Ya'll are some heartless bastards who've never started over with nothing I see.

You all have no idea what her situation is or how they're living day to day.

You have no bloody idea.

I'd just like to clarify that my point was not heartless, but that people who don't at least *TRY* to start addressing the issue and make new plans aren't going to get anywhere ignoring the problem... eventually the safety net isn't going to be there.

/yes, I'll be working til I die, most likely//poor life choices and a LOT of bad luck...

Hermione_Granger:Ya'll are some heartless bastards who've never started over with nothing I see.

You all have no idea what her situation is or how they're living day to day.

You have no bloody idea.

[raises hand]

I've started over with nothing a couple of times. Mostly after massive bouts of depression left me jobless, homeless and penniless.

All I can say is, if after A YEAR, you're still sitting around wondering how you're going to find a job and a home and you "can't bear to think about it," then it's not the job or the home that's the problem. It's that you need some therapy and probably some medication.

FEMA is supposed to provide emergency assistance. Once the emergency has passed, if people are unable to find a stable living situation, that is not FEMA's responsibility. That responsibility lies with other agencies and programs, like HUD and local housing authorities.

JeffMD:Wait wait wait wait... people renting APARTMENTS are getting shacked up by fema? WTF, I thought it was for people who lost their home.. not their rented dwelling which they can just go and rent another. Her ass should never have been there to begin with.

People who have homes have (or should have) insurance that covers loss due to natural disaster. Renters aren't so lucky. Renters insurance only covers your stuff if it gets damaged. You don't get a payout on the value of the apartment itself. Plus, not everybody has first & last month's rent plus deposit lying around.

/Lost my apartment due to arson once. The landlord set all us displaced renters up in empty apartments at another complex they owned, with no requirement to pay that first & last month's rent plus deposit. Good people, that bunch.

Gyrfalcon:Hermione_Granger: Ya'll are some heartless bastards who've never started over with nothing I see.

You all have no idea what her situation is or how they're living day to day.

You have no bloody idea.

[raises hand]

I've started over with nothing a couple of times. Mostly after massive bouts of depression left me jobless, homeless and penniless.

All I can say is, if after A YEAR, you're still sitting around wondering how you're going to find a job and a home and you "can't bear to think about it," then it's not the job or the home that's the problem. It's that you need some therapy and probably some medication.

WordyGrrl:JeffMD: Wait wait wait wait... people renting APARTMENTS are getting shacked up by fema? WTF, I thought it was for people who lost their home.. not their rented dwelling which they can just go and rent another. Her ass should never have been there to begin with.

People who have homes have (or should have) insurance that covers loss due to natural disaster. Renters aren't so lucky. Renters insurance only covers your stuff if it gets damaged. You don't get a payout on the value of the apartment itself. Plus, not everybody has first & last month's rent plus deposit lying around.

/Lost my apartment due to arson once. The landlord set all us displaced renters up in empty apartments at another complex they owned, with no requirement to pay that first & last month's rent plus deposit. Good people, that bunch.

Insurance for flood is not covered by a normal homeowner's policy. You can buy flood insurance, but that does not mean that everyone in the affected area did.

Sid_6.7:WordyGrrl: JeffMD: Wait wait wait wait... people renting APARTMENTS are getting shacked up by fema? WTF, I thought it was for people who lost their home.. not their rented dwelling which they can just go and rent another. Her ass should never have been there to begin with.

People who have homes have (or should have) insurance that covers loss due to natural disaster. Renters aren't so lucky. Renters insurance only covers your stuff if it gets damaged. You don't get a payout on the value of the apartment itself. Plus, not everybody has first & last month's rent plus deposit lying around.

/Lost my apartment due to arson once. The landlord set all us displaced renters up in empty apartments at another complex they owned, with no requirement to pay that first & last month's rent plus deposit. Good people, that bunch.

Insurance for flood is not covered by a normal homeowner's policy. You can buy flood insurance, but that does not mean that everyone in the affected area did.

True, buying flood insurance is an option available for home owners And most people don't buy it unless they're in or near a flood plain. Still, the renter's insurance available for apartment dwellers only covers their stuff. If their apartment gets destroyed, renter's insurance doesn't cover the cost of putting them in a new apartment.